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The Seashore of Gaza
A Holy Site in
The historical encounter on the sea- shore of Gaza is as much a surprise to the visitor as are the new high rising buildings which are beginning to characterize the inner city. The ancient sea harbor city of Anthedon, the place of flowers in Greek, is located in the north-west corner of the Beach Refugee camp. Anthedon was the first known sea harbor of Gaza. This port was also called Agrippas after Marcus Agrippa, Augustus' commander-in-chief. The harbor of Gaza is referred to in the work of some Islamic historians as Tida. It is most probably a variation on the name Anthedon. To the south of the seaport of Anthedon lies the Maioumas Harbor which was continuously populated and became, during the Roman period, a flourishing and well-developed port-city known as Maiumas. In AD 335 Constantine the Great rewarded its inhabitants for their unanimous adoption of Christianity by renaming their town "The City of Constantia" and elevated it to the status of a Polis, an independent city with its own Bishop.
In 1965, The Egyptian department of Antiquities excavated a Byzantine mosaic pavement dated by its Greek inscription to the year 569 of the Gaza calendar (AD508/9). The site is approximately 300 m south of the present day harbor. The dimensions of the mosaic indicate that it be- longed to a large building of 30X26 m, most probably a church. The mosaic pavement is made of small cubes of colored stone, marble and glass. It is divided by floral motifs into medallions in which representations of various animals are enclosed. In one of the medallions a Greek inscription commemorates the names of the donors and the date of the mosaic. The excavators noted that the mosaic pavement has a representation of the Orpheus playing a lyre. This image can be seen in several churches of the Byzantine period. A border of geometric patterns surrounds the whole mosaic.
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